Corrie search police rule out body found in suitcase

Corrie McKeague with his pug-cross puppy Louell who was left in his room at RAF Honington when he went missing ANL-160710-181117001

Published:17:14Updated:17:36Friday 14 October 2016

Suffolk Police say they have checked with colleagues in Derbyshire to be sure a man’s body found there in a suitcase was not missing airman Corrie McKeague.

There had been unfounded comments on social media that the body found on Monday off Woodhead Pass near Tintwistle might be Corrie’s, but Suffolk Police today confirmed they had checked. It is believed to be an older man.

Search dogs from NSARDA Anglia will be out again this weekend ANL-161110-151859009

It is three weeks tonight since airman Corrie McKeague went missing and police say that, in spite of constant appeals, some people who were in the area have still not come forward.

Suffolk Police fear these people may not realise they hold vital information which could help the search for the 23-year-old who has not been seen since about 3.20am on September 24.

A spokeswoman said: “Although a number of people who were in the area around this time have been identified via CCTV, and individuals have been coming to police, there remain a number who have not yet come forward and detectives continue to appeal for them to get in touch as work continues to identify them.”

Corrie, whose family are from Dunfermline, always talked to strangers he met on nights out, with his noticeable but gentle Scottish accent, and he told someone he met that night that he planned walk the 10 miles back to the RAF Regiment base at Honington, which he often did.

CCTV footage of Corrie McKeague ANL-160929-093914001

Officers at this stage still do not have a positive sighting of Corrie, who wore a pink shirt and white trousers, on CCTV after 3.20am in the Brentgovel Street area of Bury St Edmunds and say the viewing of hundreds of hours of footage is being systematically broadened out to explore all possibilities.

This weekend further searches will be carried out by Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue and the National Search and Rescue Dog Association Anglia. This will again focus on areas around the A1101, because Corrie’s Nokia Lumia 435 phone ‘pinged’ the Barton Mills phone mast later on the morning he went missing.

Police are also again asking local residents, businesses and landowners across the Bury St Edmunds, Barton Mills and Honington area to check any outbuildings and property in the ongoing bid to find Corrie.